It is an inhabitant of the salt lakes of Tartary and the shores of
and China, in which latter country he saw

as far south as the Cape of Good Hope.
nd Mr. Swinhoe observed it both in Formosa
and frequently met with it in the market at Tientsin; it also

the Caspian Sea; a
it on the banks of the Peiho in November,

occurs in Lower Bengal and other parts of India. | )
The genus to which this bird belongs is very limited in the number of its members, only four species being

known; these are the European Recurvirostra Avocetta, the R. americana of North America, the 2. rubricolls
of Australia, and the #. occidentalis, if the bird so called be not identical with . americana.

Latham states that the Avocet ‘s said to feed on ‘worms and insects collected from the mud, chiefly
and Locusta (the sea-flea and locust),” and that it is
t always close to the shore, is very bold in defence of its young, and, when
disturbed in the breeding-season, hovers over the sportsman’s head like a Lapwing, and flies with its legs
extended. Its note is sharp, and resembles the word twit twice or oftener repeated ; hence it has received
Its actions and the form of its bill have also obtained for it in some counties the

ce y 1 ‘ Ae
Cancer pulex often seen to wade far into the water ; it

will also occasionally swim, bu

the trivial name of Yelper.
names of Butter-flip, Scooper, Picarini, Crooked-bill, and Cobbler’s Awl.”

«At the beginning of this century,” says the Rev. Mr. Lubbock in his Observations on the Fauna of Norfolk,
‘the Avocet used to breed constantly and in considerable numbers at Horsey, but has not done so of late
On the authority of an old and respectable fen-man, it bred regularly forty years ago near the Seven-mile
on the North River; occurs still sometimes upon Breydon. The last I know of, positively, in the fens

ock which visited Sutton Broad in 1828. Avocets used formerly to breed at Salthouse, near

9

years.
House,
was a small fl
Holt, but are extinct there. The provincial name is ‘Shoeing-Horn.’

Mr. Yarrell states that ‘some years ago I was told that more than twenty specimens were received at
Leadenhall Market for sale within one month, but now scarcely an example appears once a year ; the last
I heard of was in the spring of 1837.”

After mentioning that Avocets are occasionally, but rarely, met with in the north of England or in Scotland,
Mr. Selby says, ‘‘ They assemble in small flocks, and frequent oozy and muddy shores, particularly those of
the mouths of rivers, where they obtain a plentiful supply of food, consisting of small worms, marine insects,
and young univalve and bivalve Mollusca. Their mode of feeding is by scooping, or in appearance beating
the soft mud with their flat and uptarned bill; and when thus engaged, they frequently wade up to their breasts
in the pools left by the receding tide. They are never seen to swim voluntarily, although furnished with feet
so extensively palmated as to constitute an admirable provision for enabling them to traverse the soft and
yielding substance in which they find their food. Their legs also are formed for wading, being laterally com-
pressed and thin, and thus offering the least possible resistance to their progress through the water. They
are quick and active birds; and their flight, from the form and dimensions of their wings, is powerful and
rapid. In spring they resort to those marine marshes which are only occasionally or partially covered by the
tide, and select the driest part for the purpose of nidification. If disturbed at this season, particularly when
the young are first excluded, they fly round in repeated circles, uttering at the same time without inter-
mission their peculiar cry, which resembles the word ¢wit twice repeated.”

The eggs (which are said to be deposited in a small depression of the surface in the drier part of the
marsh, either on the bare ground or on a small quantity of dry grass) are two and sometimes three in
number, of an ochreous brown, spotted and speckled with black, some of the spots appearing as if beneath
the surface of the shell; they are about two inches in length by one inch and a half in breadth. ‘Some
specimens,” says Mr. Hewitson, “are larger and more irregularly and closely covered with unequal blotches
of colour, a good deal like those of the Peewit, from which they may always be distinguished by the greater
guantity of ochreous yellow in the ground-colour.”

The sexes present little, if any, difference in the colouring of their plumage; neither am I aware that the
bird is subject to any seasonal change; having attained their full dress, they are ever after distinguished by
their black and white livery.

The young, until they are clothed with feathers, closely resemble the young of the Summer Snipe (Aetitis
hypoleucos). It will be seen by the accompanying drawing, that at this early period their legs and toes are
very siroilar to those of the adult in colour, except that they are tinged with green; they are, however, dis-
proportionately large, and very tumid at the joints.

Crown, occiput, nape, back of the neck, scapularies, lesser wing-coverts, and primaries black; the remain-
der of the plumage pure white; beak black; irides reddish brown; legs and toes pale blue; webs dark
brown; nails black.

' se pee ee ihe Ese a - beginning to assume their stub-feathers, have a dark
dark brown, and a wash of rifoub on the ie an Oe ae en ee ree We a
a reddish-brown tint on their ends until the ies ar che a ae ore
The Plate represents an adult and two y i See tt Lee wo
young birds about three weeks old, of the natural size.